Wastewater Treatment

GCA is authorized by its enabling act to build, acquire, own and operate wastewater treatment facilities and related appurtenances and currently provides both industrial and municipal wastewater treatment services in Texas. Unique in Texas, we operate our specially designed industrial wastewater treatment plants under an exemption from federal categorical pretreatment standards for industrial wastewater. The exemption allows GCA to treat wastewater from diverse industrial customers without requiring them to install and operate costly, redundant pretreatment equipment. Our industrial customers benefit from foregoing the capital and operating expense of unnecessary pretreatment systems.

GCA’s wastewater treatment facilities make use of microorganisms to clean wastewater then remove the microorganisms before the treated water is released. The microbes are then reused to clean up additional wastewater. This process is referred to as Activated Sludge. Each of the facilities use unique configurations of the Activated Sludge process to optimize the treatment of the specific wastestreams received at that facility.

GCA owns and operates four regional industrial wastewater treatment facilities that process liquid wastes from more than 80 industrial plants (largely petrochemical in nature). These GCA facilities are the Washburn Tunnel Facility located on the Houston Ship Channel, the Bayport Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility located in the Bayport Industrial District in Pasadena, Texas, the 40–Acre Facility in Texas City and the Odessa Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility in Odessa, Texas.

GCA also provides municipal wastewater treatment services. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1969 as non-taxing unit of government, the GCA provides a unique solution to costly wastewater treatment for Municipalities and Municipal Utility Districts.

The Authority owns and/or operates municipal wastewater treatment facilities, including the Blackhawk Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility located in Friendswood, Texas. Blackhawk provides tertiary treatment with ultra-violet light disinfection as part of the treatment process.